But then, when the time did come for taking the plunge,
he took it boldly and unshrinkingly. It was a delight to watch him
during this Session, and especially when it became necessary to use the
guillotine against the revolutionary and iniquitous attempt to paralyse
the House of Commons by sheer shameless obstruction. The "guillotine"
was a most serious, a most momentous, and even portentous departure from
all precedent, except, of course, the Tory precedent of 1887; but the
Old Man, when the proper time came, proposed the experiment with the
utmost composure--with that splendid command of nerve--that lofty and
dauntless courage--that indifference to attack, which explains his
extending hold over the imaginations and the hearts of men.
[Sidenote: The plain duty of Liberals.]
I have little doubt that he will be quite equal to any further steps
which may be necessary to vindicate the authority of the majority in the
House of Commons, and nobody doubts that such further steps may be
necessary. The real and fundamental question--as I put it over and over
again--is whether the Liberal party and the Liberal majority shall go
before the country at the next election with the charge made good
against them of lack of will, competence, and energy.
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